Experienced live music booker joins Lighthouse team

Lighthouse Poole has announced the appointment of John Blakeley as Music Programmer, working as part of their programming team.

John started his career in Bristol promoting gigs at various venues including Thekla, The Canteen and The Wardrobe Theatre before establishing his own concert promotions company, Ear Trumpet Music.

He also programmed Valley Fest, an annual 15,000 capacity-music and food festival in north east Somerset.

“It’s a real honour to be programming for a well-loved venue with such a rich history of amazing artists that have appeared on its stages,” says John. “I grew up in Dorset, near Swanage, and the first ‘big’ gigs I went to were bands like Thunder at Poole Arts Centre, as Lighthouse was known then. But it was playing in local bands that I realised the best way to get gigs with the artists we wanted to play with was to put them on ourselves. That carried on after we moved to Bristol, which obviously has a very well-established identity and an enthusiastic audience for live music.”

Having programmed across a range of venues and musical genres, John is keenly aware of the need to balance the commercial imperative with the desire to curate a programme that fits well with existing audiences and attracts new ones.

“I feel Poole may have a cultural advantage over some of our south coast neighbours in that, unlike Southampton, Portsmouth or Brighton, audiences are not so likely to go to London to see acts and we’re far enough away from Bristol or Plymouth to fall outside exclusivity agreements.

“So, I think with the work that has already been done at Lighthouse in attracting artists like Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher this year, we are in a position to attract some of those major tours next year. It’s a long game though and we probably won’t see the results until next autumn.”

Contact John Blakeley at john.blakeley@lighthousepoole.co.uk or on 01202 781348.